Honolulu Council Members Reserve Right to Punish One Another

Call it the Tom Berg rule. 

Inside Honolulu reports:

Berg’s recent behavior resulted in the creation of new rules for the Honolulu City Council.

The Council passed a resolution that would punish its members for acting out in a discourteous or disorderly fashion. The measure sets up a process that could ultimately lead to a council member losing some of his or her pay.

Berg is believed to be the reason this resolution was proposed in the first place, after his colleagues were forced to call police to Honolulu Hale several weeks ago as a result of an outburst during a committee reading.

Berg was removed from three committees, including that on transportation, following the incident. At Wednesday’s Council meeting, Berg criticized that decision, saying that the public wasn’t allowed to respond to his removal.

“There’s no dissension, there’s no democracy,” he said, speaking about the Transportation Committee “There’s a level of intimidation here.”

Not surprisingly, Berg voted against the resolution, which passed 7-1. But this is countered to an earlier vote in which Berg actually supported sending the resolution to the Council floor for consideration.

Two council members voted “yes with reservations.”